2010 IIHF World Championship
The 2010 IIHF World Championship was the 74th IIHF World Championship, an annual international ice hockey tournament. It took place between 7 and 23 May 2010 in Germany. The games were played in the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, SAP Arena in Mannheim, and one game at Veltins-Arena in Gelsenkirchen. The Russian team was the defending champion, having won the previous two championships.
The Czech Republic, after an early 2–3 upset loss to Norway in the preliminary round, ultimately claimed their sixth world championship title by defeating defending champions, two years running, Russia, 2–1 in the final. Sweden won against Germany 3–1 for the bronze medal.
Canada, which three months earlier, had won the 2010 Winter Olympics Men's Ice Hockey Gold on home-ice in Vancouver, after beating the Russians 7–3 in the Quarterfinals, had a disappointing tournament. They clinched the last spot in the [|playoff round] and lost their quarterfinal 2–5 in a rematch versus Russia. They finished 7th overall, their second-worst finish in tournament history, after their 1992 8th-place finish.
The tournament stands as the most watched IIHF championship in history, with an estimated cumulative audience of over over the course of the tournament and viewers in over 100 countries and dependencies worldwide. It also was a considerable success regarding attendance for the tournament; it ranked as the second most attended ice hockey world championship of all time, narrowly behind the 2004 edition. In total 548,788 people attended, compared with 552,097 in 2004 in the Czech Republic. It since slipped to the fourth place, behind 2014 and 2015 editions.
The host nation of Germany had their best finish at the tournament since it switched to the current 16 nation format, and a player representing Germany was named MVP for the first time in the history of the championship.
Summary
Preliminary round
saw the higher seeded team win each match, with the exception of the game between Belarus and Slovakia which was won by Slovakia. Russia topped the group with the full nine points, Slovakia qualified in second and Belarus in third. Kazakhstan was sent to the relegation round, after being promoted to the finals tournament for the first time since 2006.In [|Group B] the higher seeded team won each match, with the exception of the final group match which saw Switzerland defeat the second-seeded Canadians for the first time in the history of the tournament. This upset led to Switzerland winning the group with nine points, followed by Canada in second and Latvia in third. Italy, back at the finals tournament after missing 2009, lost all its matches and was returned to the relegation round.
[|Group C] action ended with three teams having a record of two wins and one defeat. Norway's upset defeat of Czech Republic caused a controversy when Jaromír Jágr, a famous member of the Czech team, spoke out against other Czech stars turning down the tournament. This later triggered an international hockey dispute, when a column was posted on IIHF.com regarding these comments and about players' turning down invitations to attend. This article was later taken down and René Fasel, president of the IIHF, noted his concern. Sweden, the Czech Republic and Norway all moved on to the qualification round, while France was sent to the relegation after failing to win any matches.
In [|Group D] the opening game saw the first major upset. Germany in front of a [|record crowd of over 77,000 persons] defeated the United States in overtime, 2–1. This group proved to be full of upsets; in the next match Denmark beat the fourth-seeded Finns, followed by the Danes defeating the Americans. Finland came up with two wins to top the group and move on to the qualification round, along with Germany in second place and Denmark in third. The final match between the U.S. and Finland determined the United States' last-place finish, and they were sent to the relegation round for the first time since 2003.
Qualification round
action first saw Denmark handing favored Slovakia a blowout upset, 6–0. In the next match Finland defeated Belarus, 2–0, after outshooting them 32 to 18. Russia narrowly defeated Germany 3–2, in which Alexander Ovechkin scored the winner. Russia continued with two more wins over Denmark and Finland to propel them to the group win, making them the only team to go undefeated into the playoff round. Belarus defeated Germany in overtime, and then defeated Denmark 2–1, but this was not enough to qualify and they ended in fifth place. In yet another upset, the host Germans defeated Slovakia 2–1 to win a qualifying spot in third place, much to the delight of the German fans and coach Uwe Krupp. Finland finished in second-place after Russia, followed by Germany and Denmark. Denmark managed to qualify for the [|quarter-finals] for the first time in the history of the tournament. Slovakia finished a disappointing last, marking the third straight year in which they did not qualify for the quarter-finals in the lead up to their hosting of the 2011 IIHF World Championship.[|Group F] opened with Canada flexing its offense against Norway in a 12–1 blowout. Sweden then defeated Latvia 4–2, followed by Switzerland continuing its winning streak with an upset 3–2 win against the Czechs. Latvia defeated Norway but later lost to the Czech Republic, which resulted in their last placement in the group and their failure to qualify. Sweden beat Canada after an impressive performance by Swedish goaltender Jonas Gustavsson. In another upset, Norway managed to beat the in-form Swiss 3–2, but they would end in fifth place. The Czech Republic won against Canada 3–2 to lead them to finish ahead of the Canadians in the group. Sweden capped off the round with a convincing 5–0 win over Switzerland to finish as group winners. Switzerland finished in second after Sweden, followed by the Czech Republic. Canada, somewhat surprisingly as the second seed, grabbed the last qualifying spot in fourth place.
Relegation round
In the relegation round the teams from the U.S., France, the newly promoted Italy and Kazakhstan faced each other after they had ended their respective preliminary groups in fourth and last place. The U.S. beat Kazakhstan in the first game 10–0, while France won against Italy in the decisive match for second place. There were no surprises on the second game-day, with the U.S. defeating France and Italy winning against Kazakhstan. The U.S. then defeated Italy in a shootout and France beat Kazakhstan 5–3. The final relegation results saw Kazakhstan and Italy go directly back down to Division I. Group-winners U.S. and second-placed France both qualified for the 2011 World Championships.Playoff round
The playoff round saw the top eight teams competing for the title of 2010 world champions. The quarter-finals began with a close match between Finland and the Czech Republic. After Petri Kontiola's early goal in the first minute, the game remained scoreless all the way into the third period. Jakub Klepiš scored the equalizer shortly after the final period started. No further goals were scored, so the game went into a scoreless overtime followed by a shootout. Jan Marek scored the decisive goal to put the Czechs into the [|semifinals].In the second quarter-final, Sweden faced Denmark. This was Denmark's first appearance in the playoff round. After Sweden established a comfortable 3–0 lead, the Danes scored a goal in the second period. Seven minutes before the end Linus Omark scored a goal which restored the three-goal lead for Sweden. A late power play goal by Dane Morten Madsen was to no avail and Sweden won 4–2.
The third quarter-final featured a storied and contentious rivalry. Russia played against Canada in a repeat of the quarter-finals at the 2010 Olympics, in which Canada embarrassed the Russians 7–3. The opening period was a dead heat until a late goal by Maxim Afinogenov. Russia, still undefeated at the tournament, immediately overtook Canada in the second period, and led at one point in the third period by 4–0. Ilya Kovalchuk had a three-assist game and was a big boost for the Russians who won 5–2, following two late Canadian goals.
The final quarter-final was an evening game between the host Germany and their traditional rival, Switzerland. The first period was scoreless but not without chances, as the Swiss hit the post twice. Midway through the second period Philip Gogulla scored on the power play to give Germany the lead, and this goal would turn out to be the game winner. The Swiss outshot the Germans 41 to 27, and Dennis Endras is credited with keeping Germany in the game by preserving the one-goal lead. The win put Germany in the semifinals for the first time since 1953 and the match was dubbed by the IIHF as The Miracle at Mannheim. At the end of the match there was a brawl between the teams, which included German assistant coach Ernst Höfner getting into an altercation with Swiss defenceman Timo Helbling. Both were handed match suspensions.
After one day off the semifinals started with Sweden versus the Czech Republic. The first period was equal with both teams scoring one goal. Andreas Engqvist scored midway through the second period to put Sweden up 2–1. This lead held into very late in the third period. With 1:13 left in the third period the Czechs pulled their goalie to get a six on five opportunity and Karel Rachůnek scored the 2–2 equalizer with just 7.5 seconds left, putting the game into overtime. The overtime period stayed scoreless and it came down to the shootout. In a repeat of the quarter-final the Czechs won by a goal from Jan Marek.
The other semifinal between Germany and Russia was a close match, much like their qualification round game. The Germans started off the scoring with a goal from Marcel Goc during a two-man power play. At the midway point of the match Evgeni Malkin scored to tie up the game for the Russians. The remainder of the game was very close, and the tie was only broken with 1:50 minutes left, when Pavel Datsyuk scored the game-winning goal. The Germans pressed in the final minutes but the score held for a 2–1 Russian victory, putting them in the final for the third straight year.
The [|bronze medal game] was between Sweden and the surprise semifinalists, hosts Germany. Magnus Pääjärvi-Svensson scored an early goal to put up Sweden 1–0. The game then went scoreless until late in the second period when on a 4–3 rush Alexander Barta managed to retrieve his own rebound and put it top-shelf past Jonas Gustavsson, tying up the game for Germany. Early in the third period Jonas Andersson fired a shot from a very tight angle which managed to beat Dennis Endras on the five hole. The score held until Andersson netted an empty-net goal to ensure Sweden's 3–1 victory, giving them their second straight bronze medal at the worlds.